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My first encounter with this work is less than 12 hours old, so my thoughts might evolve. It may be a lesser work than Viva, perhaps only because it can't deliver the wonderful shock of a new voice, but it's still quite worthy of your attention. Intact is the tension of an arguably feminist perspective expressed in the tropes and visual language of a bygone time in conversation with our own. The setting is present-time (by the most-recent-car-model test), the ecstatic costumes and decors favor the past, but the saturated colors, the film-ness, of this ambiguously supernatural burlesque of masculine and feminine roles with nods toward psychedelia and crime-thriller, are timeless. The curiously set-bound feeling of the earlier film is opened up here by location shooting in California's northern counties. Biller knows exactly what she wants from her actors and sometimes gets it. I do miss her acting presence, but if this brief run doesn't flop, there is a good chance it will be extended and augmented with a screening of Viva and a personal appearance by Biller.
Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Nolan, Dennis Hauck, László Nemes, believe me, I appreciate your efforts to keep film alive. Keep it up, and look to Anna Biller as one who is doing it right.